The present invention is related to the field of clothing construction and particularly to the sewing technique known as smocking. More particularly, the invention relates to a device to assist an individual in creating uniform smocked design.
Smocking is a popular needleart construction technique which utilizes decoratively stitched together fabric folds in order to create a pattern. In a typical operation, a pre-pleated or gathered section is prepared before the smocking operation is performed. Smocking is often used on yokes, bodices, pockets, sleeves and waist lines in order to create a garment which has a decorative effect. The folds or pleats which are used in the smocking operation can also be accomplished when the actual smocking stitching is done which is known as the American smocking technique. The technique in which the fabric is first gathered into folds and then smocked is known as English smocking. Because of the advent of machines and because of the ease of preparation the English smocking has become prevalent whereby the machine or the individual gathers the folds or pleats prior to the actual smocking operation.
Once the pleats have been "gathered" and the material is ready for the smocking operation, there commonly exists a problem with respect to the fitting or sizing of the pre-pleated material onto the yoke. Not only must the size of the material which has been gathered be an exact fit onto the yoke but the pleats themselves must be kept straight in each of the rows of the smocking material. Although it has been commonly the practice to pin these materials to a more rigid backing material such as heavy weight paper, the actual construction of the sewing technique with respect to the smocking operation has been difficult because of problems with respect to holding the material properly in place in a rigid manner while at the same time exactly locating the center of the material for purposes of creating the ornamental design which is to be smocked. The most common method of English smocking is to hold the pre-pleated material in one hand and stitch with the other hand. As the stitching is completed the completed stitched material is scrolled and collected in the one hand (usually the left hand) while the other hand continues stitching a few inches at a time. Upon completion of the stitching of a particular row the left hand, for example, would contain the rolled material. Utilizing this method only a few pleats are visible at one time which exemplifies one of the problem areas in the prior art methods. Other problem areas with respect to these methods include the maintaining of uniform size, shape and tension of the overall piece. These problems with respect to the size, shape and tension ultimately lead to a difficulty in obtaining symmetry with respect to the final product.
The holding and proper spacing of a smocking material cannot be suitably solved by a stationary, free-standing or large sizing structure because such a structure would not permit the individual sewing the material to be positioned comfortably for the exacting nature of the work which is required to complete the decorative sewing together of the folds or pleats. This especially applies to what is known as picture smocking or stacked cables which is the creation of one or more shapes of a design which depicts object(s) rather than a geometric pattern. For example, in the design of a row of ducks, uniform size, shape and spacing of each of the ducks is critical.
There is also a problem with respect to using English smocking to create round yoke (bishop) dresses or collars which utilize smocking on the material of the dress itself and which involves the arrangement of the pre-pleated upper portion of the dress or collar in such a manner that the secured pleats must extend in a "spoke" (circular) fashion from the neck edge. It is quite obvious that the problems with respect to holding the material properly as well as providing for a convenient and comfortable sewing position exists in this area in a manner similar to the above described English smocking operations. Other areas whereby material must be held in a temporary manner in order to provide the final operation include the sewing of a lace work project which must involve presewing or basting in order to provide a secure position for the material which is to be fashioned together. Likewise the sewing technique known as fagoting which involves decorative stitching used to join two fabric sections while leaving a space in between those sections, requires that the fabric edges must be folded back and pinned and basted along each edge which is normally accomplished by the use of paper on which parallel lines are drawn.
Prior art attempts at providing solution to these problems involve complicated structures which are only utilized in mass production operations or they involve techniques and apparatus which do not provide for satisfactory results especially when an individual operator must perform the sewing work.